Pleasanton Weekly

Opinion - June 15, 2012

Letters

Canceled program

Dear Editor,

The Pleasanton School District canceled the Home School program to save money. Each month, 50 students meet for two hours, the district receives State ADA money for 20 days. The district has 1.5 teachers to administer the program. The teachers were not given the required layoff notice so their salaries will continue; as they should. I cannot get the math to work in the district's favor.

The district is expecting to place the students in already crowded classrooms but have yet to notify the parents as the district told Home School teachers they would.

Dublin Unified School District Home School program is modeled after Pleasanton's. Tuesday we completed Inter District Transfer paperwork. My sons' 20 days of ADA money will go to Dublin USD for two hours of their time beginning September.

Why Home School? My sons were at the NASA Ames Exploration Center at Moffett Field watching the Transit of Venus on Tuesday; they just finished second grade, but are in grade 3.5 per the Pleasanton USD curriculum, and so forth. Who could ask for more! Thank you, Amy Delema and Kathy Kindred, Home School teachers. Matt and Jack love you.

Pleasanton USD -- shame on you.

Lynn Martin

Thanks for Holiday Fund

Dear Editor,

On behalf of all associated with Hope Hospice, the patients we serve and their grieving families, thank you to those who contributed to the Pleasanton Weekly Holiday Fund. It is a privilege to be among the nine organizations who received funds through the Holiday Fund. The generous community outpouring is evidence that we are fortunate to be members of a community that supports one another.

Although individual patients and families served by Hope Hospice won't necessarily be aware of your contributions, they can feel secure and safe knowing that our community cares about them at this critical time in their lives.

Hope Hospice's mission is to ensure that every end-of-life experience is patient-centered, based upon individual choice, and lightened by hope, comfort, and dignity, regardless of the ability to pay. We rely on contributions such as those raised by the Pleasanton Weekly Holiday Fund to fulfill our mission.

Janie Eddleman, RN

Acting Chief Executive Officer

Solar is way to go

Dear Editor,

We want to thank the city of Pleasanton and its Energy and Sustainability manager, Laura Ryan, for the generous solar electric homeowners rebate we recently received. A year ago, we were spending a fortune on PG&E electricity. At the Pleasanton Solar Expo last November, we discovered the price of solar panels has come down dramatically, and we could benefit from a total of four rebates (from federal, state, city and the installer, Solar Universe). These combined rebates paid for 50% of our system cost.

If you install at least three kilowatts, PG&E will put you on a Time Of Use Net Metering tariff, whereby you can sell surplus electricity during summer days at 30 cents per kilowatt hour, and power your home during the night for 10 cents per kilowatt hour. Battery storage is unnecessary -- the grid banks your surplus and consumption. We sized our five-kilowatt system large enough to power the house, swimming pool and 50 miles per day of future electric vehicle driving.

If you are wondering where to invest for retirement, going solar is a great alternative -- you know exactly what you're getting back. Over a 25-year lifespan, our micro-power-plant will prevent carbon emissions equal to the weight of a fully loaded 737-passenger jet. Solar electric ranks as one of the best purchases we've ever made. Thank you, Pleasanton.